ThinKom Solutions has announced the interoperability of its phased-array antenna technology with the next generation of low-earth orbit (LEO) and mid-earth orbit (MEO) networks, as well as geostationary (GEO) satellites.
According to the Los Angeles-based company, agility tests have shown that its antenna design achieves switching speeds of less than 800 ms. This has been determined by LEO and MEO service providers to be more than sufficient for beam switching among the fast-moving satellites with virtually no interruption in connectivity.
“ThinKom’s patented phased-array architecture provides rapid switching speeds without the limitations of electronic scanning antennas in terms of instantaneous bandwidth, low-look-angle performance, power consumption and aperture efficiency,” said Bill Milroy, chairman and chief technical officer of ThinKom Solutions.
“The new LEO and MEO satellite networks currently under development have the potential to disrupt the satcom market with inexpensive bandwidth and offer unique benefits in terms of latency, coverage, throughput and redundancy,” said Milroy. “At the same time, GEO high-throughput satellites (HTS) represent proven lower-risk technology but have limitations in terms of high-latitude coverage, lower spectral efficiencies and latency. This presents a dilemma for companies facing multi-year planning cycles for satcom terminal selection.”
“Our position is that users and sellers of aeronautical satellite connectivity should not have to make an ‘either-or choice’,” said Milroy. “Our antenna technology has the versatility to support an integrated multi-constellation solution offering gap-free, pole-to-pole coverage with automatic beam switching, rapid outage recovery and network optimisation for different geographical regions.”
